Joe Biden became the de facto 2020 Democrat presidential nominee Wednesday morning as Bernie Sanders suspended his race for president.

The primary campaign was a roller coaster for Sanders. From early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire he gradually coasted slower then to a halt. Biden stopped him cold in South Carolina and won consistently from that point. Sanders took delegate-rich California on Super Tuesday. But it wasn’t enough to stop the Biden effort from running over him.

The trail was tough on Biden too and will get tougher. Reeling from lack of charisma, a non-coherent message, and constant gaffes, black voters put Biden over the top in the South and he stayed there. But these are the same black voters who are giving the president 2-3 times the support they did in 2016. Though virus factors could change that.

Biden goes into the fall an afterthought, as the nation rallies around the president. While his surrogates attack Trump, Biden tries the high road. Either road may very well lead him to political oblivion.